Table of Contents
Exam registration
It is mandatory to register for the exams. Their is a deadline each semester until wihich all intended exam registrations have to be made. The summer semester deadline is roughly mid of May, the Winter semester deadline is roughly mid of November.
Unregistering an exam is possible until 3 days before the respective exam (see general examination rules of RWTH). Should you face problems with the RWTH Online system when trying to unregister please take valid full screen shots, i. e. the date and time need to be displayed on the screen shot. In case of doubt take screen shots anyway. Without a screen shot there is no proof that you tried to do something in the system.
Strategy
Considering the abovementioned regulations it does make sense to register for all exams before the deadline, keep track on registrations at the end of the lecture time, and unregister in time if one does not feel prepared well enough to write the exam.
What to do when not being registered
If the deadline has passed you may apply to the examination board for a late registration. Please note that there is no guarantee that the board agrees. Morover, this involves a lot of people at the examination board, the institute giving the exam, the academic student counsellor, and the central examination office (ZPA).
There is also the option to show up unregistered at an exam and sign a declaration stating that a) the result will count as a try, and b) it will be checked afterwards if the student fullfilled all requirements to take part.
Both options are worst case scenarios which you should strictly avoid!
Should you have difficulties in registration for courses or exams the institute offering the course is your first contact. Please note that the guidance counselors are generally not able to interfere with the institutes in RWTH Online. In case the problem cannot be solved please contact your administrative student counsellor.
Thesis registration
Mini thesis/student research project
First you need to find a topic and a supervizing Professor. Naturally this should be a supervisor of the MuW department. However, thesis works in other faculties are possible, but need an application to the Examination Board. The application has to be signed by an internal Professor of MuW department acting as your internal supervisor. A mini thesis outside RWTH is generally not permitted.
Please note:
Supervisors may only be Professors or Ph D.´s which are promoted supervisores by the faculty. Thus, Ph. D. students must not be supervisors in this sense (though they may act as direct advisers).
The supervisor is responsible for all registration issues with ZPA and in case of extra-faculty or industrial thesis work has to make sure that the thesis is equivalent to a regular internal thesis.
Master thesis
For a Master thesis the same rules apply. However, a Master thesis may (upon application to the Examination Board) be carried out in industry. You need a supervizing Professor (see above).
Exam planning
Exam planning is performed each semester using the CarpeDiem system. The general outline consists of 2 potential attempts after the semester in which the lecture is held, with an intened minimum time between to potential attempts of 4 weeks. You may initially either register for the first or second attempt.If you failes the fisrt attempt you still can register for the seconfd one in the same semester. Should you directly register for the second attempt the next attempt will definitely be no earlier than the next semester. In the next semester (where there is no lecture/exercise of this module) there is 1 attempt offered.
Illness during an exam
Unfortunately, a significant number of students fall ill unexpectedly during an exam. In this case you have to indicate it to the supervisors. Afterwards you leave to go to a doctor and have your illness confirmed. This confirmation has to be done and signed immediately after the exam. The medical certificate has to be filled out on a form downloadable at the Central Examination Office (ZPA) in Super C. The certificate has to be put in the post box at ZPA on the same day. Note that if you fail to fulfill these formal requirements you will loose an attempt.
Unregistering
Make sure you unregister within the given timeframe. On the safe side you should unregister through the RWTH Online system one week before the exam.
You should receive an email from the system confirming the cancellation overnight, the latest. Ususally these arrive with one hour. In case you do not receive such a confirmation email you will need to retry the withdrawal and/or contact ZPA. Take screenshots of all your actions to be able to proove your attempt to unregister.
Documentation
Some issues are of high relevance for any student, e. g. not loosing exam tries due to an improper cancellation of an exam. In these cases (and also in cases of less importance) it is crucial to be able to proove your actions later on.
you may do that by saving emails etc. in your email folder and/or by taking screenshots of important actions in RWTH online. You better take one screenshot in vain instead of loosing an exam attempt.